6 Months with the Surface Pro 3

Before getting down into the positives and negatives of the Surface Pro 3 you have to understand that it is almost a flawless product. My complaints of the Pro 3 center around minor enhancements and questionable business practices by Microsoft, but ultimately it is by far the best Windows 8 device I’ve used to date.

Display

The display of the Surface Pro 3 when launched was an amazing 12 inch 2660×1440 resolution HD display. This is basically a 2K display whose colors, contrast, and brightness all came together seamlessly. Over the course of 6 months this still holds up to be true. Other than the burnout issue with my specific unit the Surface Pro 3 display is by far the best asset and I have yet to encounter a hybrid device of this size and price to compete with it. Viewing angles are also superb with the Pro 3.

Battery

I was one of the unlucky ones out of the gate when the Pro 3 was given out to the press. My unit’s battery life was sporadic, unpredictable, and down right horrible at times. Thunder E our Editor-in-Chief had no such problems. He continually pushed the Pro 3 through it’s paces and got well over 12+ hours of use consistently. Once I received my new unit all of the past issues plaguing my Pro 3 experience vanished. Battery life on the device is a non-worry and speaks volumes as to what Microsoft has accomplished with such powerful specs in a relatively tight package.

Spec’s/Versatility

Core i3, Core i5, Core i7. Pretty powerful processors and all options for the Surface Pro 3. Our unit entailed the Core i5 chipset with 256GB of memory and 8GB of RAM. These are not only insatiable specs but powerful ones at that. The Pro 3 is no childs play toy and can seriously handle your work horse needs if necessary. The versatility of this device has held up for 6 months and is showing no signs of ever disappointing.

Keyboard

It still amazes me that Microsoft opts to make the keyboard a separate accessory that has to be bought at an expensive price. It makes no logical sense, especially with the Pro 3 as you can not use the tablet as a full laptop replacement without it. In the future Microsoft has to bundle the keyboard with the Pro line of devices or it will never fully be capable of taking over the Hybrid PC market. Continuing on the path of the keyboard, Microsoft has a wide variety of color options for it, however they fail to extend this aspect to the tablet itself. Coming in a rather bland matte silver finish the Pro 3 prevents any level of customization & differentiation per consumer. Yes, you can change the tile color scheme and choose a different keyboard, but in the future Microsoft should implement other color options for the tablet itself.

Conclusion

The Surface Pro 3 is an amazing, almost flawless product. It can and will replace your laptop if that’s what you need it for. The use case scenarios for this device are endless and add credence to how versatile and innovative it truly is. If you are looking for the next in cutting edge technology, but also want it to work, look no further than the Surface Pro 3.